Assistant Attorney General Gilbert J. Birnbrich, who is representing the CNMI government, told Variety that “the commonwealth believes it has not done anything wrong.”
“We will pursue litigation,” he added.
Attorney David Banes, who is volunteering for the Friends of Marpi, told Variety that “they have offered a win-win solution, but the CNMI government refused to consider our offer.”
“We will go for trial,” Banes added.
Judge Kenneth L. Govendo has extended the preliminary injunction on the project until the trial in March 2012.
Last April, Friends of Marpi and its volunteers filed a lawsuit in Superior Court seeking declaratory and injunctive relief to enjoin the CNMI government, including the Capital Improvement Projects Office and the Office of the Governor, among other agencies, from performing any work related to erecting power poles and connecting electric wires in relation to the Marpi cemetery project.
Asked for comment, Tina Sablan, one of the Friends of Marpi, said:
“It is important to remember that Friends of Marpi and so many others who have opposed the power poles in Marpi have called for two simple things:
“1) Greater transparency and public involvement in a project which impacts an area of tremendous historic and cultural significance, as well as natural beauty; and
“2) Thorough consideration of more appropriate and cost effective alternatives for providing power to the public cemetery, including but not limited to solar energy and standalone generators.”
According to Sablan, “Litigation was always, for us, a last resort. Every effort was made prior to this lawsuit to meet with the government in good faith and offer potential solutions. Why is the government fighting so hard and expending so much of its limited resources to stop public appeals for transparency and more sensible alternatives? To this date, we still don’t know the actual costs of this project, who has benefited, why no public hearings were held before the power poles went up, why no assessments were done, and why alternatives were not fully considered.”
